Wireless data transmission has significantly advanced since the days of analog AM and FM radio. For example, radio broadcasts are now capable of being broadcast in a digital format, typically using a packet-based communication medium, and often providing better sound quality than with older analog technologies.
With a packet-based communication medium, information is transmitted in distinct “packets”, each typically with a header containing information about the contents of the packet, as well as the contents of the packet itself. In the case of digital radio broadcast, most packets include digitized audio data that, when received, is converted back to an analog format, amplified and output to loudspeakers.
Given the packet-based nature of a digital radio broadcast, additional information can be transmitted along with the broadcast, so long as the packets containing such information identify the type of information being transmitted in the packets. For example, in some digital radio broadcasts, station call letters are periodically sent to identify the radio station generating the broadcast. Other information capable of being displayed to a listener (herein referred to as “display information”), such as song or program titles, the current time, etc., may also be transmitted. A suitable digital radio receiver incorporating a visual display can then decode packets incorporating such display information and display the information on the visual display.
Given that practically any information can be transmitted in a digital format, a packet-based communication medium opens the possibility for the transmission of a wide variety of digital data along with a radio broadcast. For example, traffic and weather information, as well as emergency information, may be useful for many radio listeners, particularly those using mobile radio receivers mounted in automobiles and other vehicles. Even stationary radio receivers such as found in a home or business may benefit from the display of additional display information, e.g., emergency weather bulletins and the like. Moreover, from the perspective of a broadcaster, it may also be desirable to transmit visual advertisements to listeners to provide an additional source of revenue for the broadcaster.
A desirable goal for any radio broadcaster (particularly a commercial radio broadcaster) is to increase its overall audience, and certainly providing useful display information along with radio broadcasts could be perceived as a valuable add-on that attracts new listeners and/or keeps current listeners. However, it is highly unlikely that all listeners of a radio broadcast would find the same information to be interesting or useful. If a listener of a particular radio broadcast received a large volume of uninteresting or irrelevant information, that user would likely have greater difficulty in weeding out useful information, and might become less enamored with the radio broadcast. Consequently, any attempts to increase an audience by incorporating additional types of information that are potentially interesting to a wider variety of listeners would likely be subject to diminishing returns if the additional information was found to alienate a significant number of existing listeners.
In addition, digital radio broadcasts and like communications may be sent to listeners over a relatively wide geographical area. Some display information transmitted in such a broadcast may only be relevant to only a specific region within the broadcast area. As such, increases in the amount of such information in a radio broadcast may unduly burden listeners as they attempt to pick out the information that is relevant to their particular listening location. Picking out relevant display information based on a listener's location is comparable to listening to spoken traffic reports that have been provided for many years by some radio stations, since typically only a small portion of a traffic report (e.g., one road among many) may be relevant to any particular listener.
It is believed that were individual listeners able to manage or otherwise control the types of information presented to them from a digital radio broadcast, such listeners would be more likely to listen to the broadcast, thus having the potential of increasing a broadcaster's audience. A substantial need therefore exists in the art for an improved manner of managing the display of display information provided in a digital radio broadcast or other form of packet-based communication medium.